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Grant Thornton 5k

GT5K 2018 Series is Launched

Ballybritt Racecourse, Galway – 12th April 2018

The Mall, Cork – 13th June 2018

Belfast City Airport – 21st June 2018

Dublin Docklands – 5th September 2018

Leading business advisors Grant Thornton has announced today that they have extended their sponsorship with Athletics Ireland for a further three years. This will be the 7th year of the GT5K series, the series has expanded from one location in the Dublin Docklands in 2012 to four locations across Ireland this year.

The locations and dates for the 2018 GT5K Series are Ballybrit Racecourse, Galway on Thursday 12th April, The Mall, Cork on Wednesday 13th June, Belfast City Airport on Thursday 21st June and Dublin Docklands will take place on Wednesday 5th September.

Aimed at encouraging social running amongst the business community in Galway, Cork, Belfast and Dublin, the event welcomes both seasoned runners as well as beginners. Each run will be a team event, with four participants on each team. Team members’ times are combined to determine the winner in each category. There are three categories; male, female & mixed.

This year’s chosen charity is the Simon Community, the charity that works to provide housing, support and health care services to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 10% of all registration fees from all four races will be donated to the Simon Community.

Michael McAteer, Managing Partner, Grant Thornton Ireland, said: “Grant Thornton’s Corporate Challenge has grown from a single run in 2012 to a fully-fledged race series that has raised over €100,000 so far for good causes. It’s fantastic to have the support of the business communities in the various locations with more and more companies signing up each year for some healthy competition! We’re excited to expand the event to Galway this year, for the first time. 2018 will see our biggest race series ever and will help the Simon Community continue the valuable work they do across Ireland.”

Fionn Faherty from the Simon Community said: “The Simon Community are delighted to collaborate with Grant Thornton as charity partner for their 5k corporate challenge team runs this year and would like to thank everyone involved for their generosity. Your support will help provide vital outreach, treatment, housing, homelessness prevention, education and support services to people who are facing homelessness. As we continue to see more people turning to us for help, your kindness will make a life-changing difference and enable people to move to a safe and secure place they can call home.”

John Foley, Chief Executive of Athletics Ireland, said “We are very pleased to continue are partnership with Grant Thornton for a further three years. Grant Thornton’s sponsorship of this event allows for it to be a revenue earner for the association with profits generated channelled into our Junior High Performance Athletics programmes. These programmes provide support and expertise to close to 100 of our emerging young athletes to help them to fulfil their potential.”

Foley added “As an association one of our core strategic objectives is to promote health and fitness in the population as a whole. This event enables us to reach beyond our core membership into the business community by encouraging them to focus on a fitness programme which targets a 5k run; a good starter point for novice runners.”

All events are chip timed, each participant will receive a technical t-shirt, medal and goody bag.